Views

Learning Outcomes

  • Use the Outline and Normal views

Another commonly used option in PowerPoint is the view you use to examine the slides. There are two major views: Normal and Outline.

By default, PowerPoint opens presentations in the Normal view. This is the view you have seen in screenshots throughout this module, with the slide thumbnails on the left, and as shown below.

A Microsoft Powerpoint deck is open with 3 slides created. There is a green arrow pointing to the view tab in the ribbon menu.

But as you can see, it is difficult to see what the text on slides actually says from the Normal view. If you wish to still have an overall thumbnail view of the slides in the presentation, but want to be able to read the text on the slides, you can use the “Outline” view.

A Microsoft Powerpoint deck is open with 3 slides created. There is a green arrow pointing to the view tab in the ribbon menu. There is a pink box highlighting where the outline view is.

Note that you can read the text that has been typed on a slide, but you cannot see tables or a thumbnail view of any images. In the Normal view, the table in Slide 3 is visible, but in the Outline view all you can see of Slide 3 is the title.

You can still add, delete, and move slides from the Outline view. You can also directly edit text from the thumbnail slides in the Outline view, which you cannot do from the Normal view thumbnails. To do this, double-click on or near the text you would like to edit and type as normal.

A Microsoft Powerpoint deck is open with 3 slides created it is in the outline view. There is a green box showing the content of what is on the second slide. A green arrow is pointing at the word "worth" which is shaded in gray.

Practice Questions

Contribute!

Did you have an idea for improving this content? We’d love your input.

Improve this pageLearn More